Emmet Brings It All Back ‘Home’
Piano icon returns to Litchfield, where his jazz journey really began
Emmet Cohen returns for the fifth time to the Litchfield Jazz Festival stage. Emmet, a Litchfield Jazz Camp alumnus, and his trio will open this year’s festival Friday night (photo courtesy Emmet Cohen)
There may be nobody else at present who brings the joy of jazz to more people than Emmet Cohen. He and his trio tour the world to packed houses. His “Live From Emmet’s Place” video series, recorded in his New York City living room, has reached tens of millions of viewers since its launch as a way to keep the music rolling in the deepest days of the Covid pandemic in 2020; his YouTube channel has 226,000 subscribers.
Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say he has attained first-name-only status among jazz aficionados worldwide. Just say “Emmet’s playing at X,” and they will know of whom you speak. They will know.
And for Emmet, that path started right here in the 8495, in western Connecticut, at the Litchfield Jazz Camp, when he was 15.
“I just remember being there and for the first time in my life being surrounded by a bunch of other musicians my age and around my age who loved jazz more than anything else in the world,” Emmet told 8495Jazz in a recent phone interview. “And I didn’t really have that where I grew up in Montclair, NJ.
“All the jazz musicians I knew, I would go to clubs and they were all older people. And camp was like an affirming moment that there were all these people who really wanted to play this music and study it and sound fairly advanced for their age, and I was just thrown into that fire – the first time I was ever immersed in it to that level.”
Emmet keeps coming back to Litchfield to share the joy of the music. He and his trio will open this year’s Litchfield Jazz Festival Friday night; it will be his fifth appearance at the festival. The show will follow the festival’s kickoff gala, which starts at 5:45 pm at the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, CT. There were still some gala/show tickets, which support the jazz camp’s scholarship, left at press time.
“It’s quite a magical place,” Emmet said. “It has a history for me and I have a wonderful relationship with Vita (Litchfield Performing Arts founder and executive director Vita Muir). They’ve given me some tremendous opportunities when I was younger. It’s one of the first festivals I headlined.”
Emmet first played the Litchfield Jazz Festival in 2013, at the age of 22. (Nathan Turner photo, courtesy Litchfield Jazz Festival)
He’s also grateful he was able to connect with musicians of several generations through the festival, including older artists who played with him like NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Heath and Jimmy Cobb, and the students who have followed him.
“It was an example to them that if you work hard, in a couple years you could be on the stage, too. And it’s really true.”
Though Emmet himself has never come back as a faculty member, several of the current faculty members who are just a couple years older than he is were already on board as teaching assistants when he was a student – the Curtis brothers, pianist Zaccai and bassist Luques, whose Cubop Lives! won the best Latin jazz Grammy this year, and saxophonist Albert Rivera, now the camp’s director of operations.
And, although Emmet said camp was like getting a college degree’s worth of musical knowledge in four weeks, the lessons went far beyond charts.
“It was as much learning about being a human being as it was about being a musician. And looking back on it, that was one of the most valuable things I got from that camp – how to be a decent human being.”
The rest of the festival
The Litchfield Jazz Festival continues Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s “All Jazz All Day” lineup starts at 3 pm with the Matt Dwonszyk Sextet (Matt is also a Litchfield Jazz Camp alum). They are followed by guitar duo Pasquale Grasso and Frank Vignola at 4:45. Clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen and her Quartetinho close Saturday’s music at 6:30.
Sunday’s closing act, the ever-popular jazz brunch, at noon, features pianist-vocalist Champian Fulton and her trio.
The festival’s home page, including links to tickets, is here.
The festival FAQ page with information on scheduling, parking, food availability, etc., is located here.
Emmet’s “Live From Emmet’s Place” concerts have gained tens of millions of views.
Out and About with 8495Jazz
These listings are a curated sampling of shows in the region. As an independent resource for jazz news, 8495Jazz does not receive any consideration, free tickets, or affiliate fees for these listings. Please confirm events are still happening directly with the venue.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
Caramoor, Katonah, NY
Caramoor Jazz Festival, featuring Arturo O’Farrill & The Latin Jazz Orchestra and many others, Saturday, July 26, 12:30 pm – close (headliner starts at 7:30 pm). GA day tickets excluding headliner, $63 (children $59). Full festival tickets, GA $63-$169 (children $29.50-$159.00)
8495Jazz Spur of the Moment Gig TODAY
Steeple Playhouse, New Bedford, MA
Becky Bass Jazz trio (vocals, steel drum, combo), 4 pm. GA $27, student/vets $22.
Other Shows This Week
Bushnell Park, Hartford, CT
Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series feat. Abena Koomson-Davis w/Jake Ezra Schwartz, The Amina Claudine Myers Trio, Monday, July 21, 6 pm. Free.
Music Mountain, Falls Village, CT
Swingtime Big Band (great American songbook), Saturday, July 26, 7 pm. GA $35-$50, student/teacher/veteran $5-$20, under 19 free.
Elicit Brewing Co., Manchester, CT
Hartford Jazz Orchestra, Monday, July 21, 7:30 pm. Free.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA
Berklee Garden Bar Series feat. Evan Fort (piano), Wednesday, July 23, 6 pm. Free.
The Side Door, Old Lyme, CT
Bill O’Connell Trio (piano, combo) Friday, July 25, 8 pm. GA $49.16, students $22.68 including service fee.
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Abena Koomson-Davis (vocals, combo), Thursday, July 24, 7:30 and 8:45 pm. GA $20.76 for first show, $10.76 for late show. Student/vet $15.76 for early show.
Jazz Forum Arts, Tarrytown, NY
Jeremy Pelt Quintet (trumpet, combo), Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26, 7 and 9:30 pm. GA $37.25 including service fee.
Alchemy, Providence, RI
John Allmark Jazz Orchestra, Monday, July 21, 8 pm. GA $20.77.
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free.
Mahoney’s, Poughkeepsie, NY
Poughkeepsie Jazz Project, every Tuesday, 7 pm. Free.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
8495Jazz takes its name from the two Interstate highways that cross our region, I-84 and I-95. Within short driving distances from either, you can find incredible entertainment, from local jams to world-famous festivals in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 8495Jazz: From Newburgh to Newport!
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